Torchwood Crossovers!

Big Finish have announced today that Tracy-Ann Oberman is to headline their fourth Torchwood audio adventure, One Life.

Oberman was the face of Torchwood in Doctor Who's second series finale Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, playing its leader Yvonne Hartman. Her London Hub, based on Canary Wharf, was destroyed in a battle between the Daleks and the Cybermen. In the process, Yvonne was Cyber-converted. Now, she's back!

One Life takes place a year before the battle of Canary Wharf, and sees Yvonne visiting Torchwood's Cardiff base. Producer James Goss promises she'll become "thoroughly unstuck" there...

The story is released this December, and you can order it here.

We still don't know who's in the fifth release... but the sixth story sees a mix of established characters reuniting - with Eve Myles already confirmed for the adventure.

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In other news, the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine (issue 491) has been released. It features an interview with Torchwood costume designer Ray Holman (who has returned to the fold, designing Doctor Who's ninth season costumes), as well as confirming that they'll be a slight Doctor Who/Torchwood crossover, as an Arcateenian alien (one debuted in 2006's Greeks Bearing Gifts, and then Sarah Jane's Invasion of the Bane) will feature in new series adventure Under the Lake/Before the Flood.

An Arcateenian

Over in SFX Magazine land, Gareth David-Lloyd is interviewed briefly about Torchwood: Fall to Earth in their latest issue, number 266.

Friendly Cardiff .VS. Big Old Nasty London

I've just read this short interview from the latest member of the Innuendo Squad, Ianto, aka Mister Gareth David-Lloyd. (Thanks to our friends at The Institute for this lead). You can hear what he has to say below (and if Gareth's reading, congratulations on the casting young man!) :

http://www.musicomh.com/theatre/three-women.htm

He learned his acting craft in Gwent but now Gareth David-Lloyd’s talents are going intergalactic.

Gareth, 25, from Bettws, has landed the role of a lifetime a major part in the new Dr Who spin-off series Torchwood.

He is to play Ianto, the receptionist at the Cardiff branch of Torchwood a government agency searching for alien technology which has fallen to Earth.

He will be filming for six months on the show, which is set in modern-day Cardiff. This is the first major role for the Newport actor, who went to Bettws Comprehensive and Coleg Gwent, Cross Keys.

“I’m really excited,” he said. “This is going to be different to anything else I’ve done before.”

It was at Monnow Junior School in Bettws that Gareth had his first acting role playing a robot in the school play. He then had acting lessons at Risca Leisure Centre before joining the Dolman Youth Theatre and Gwent Young People’s Theatre, where Argus reviewers marked him out as a star of the future.

He moved to London to pursue his career three years ago, with roles in Absolute Power, with Stephen Fry, and a BBC2 documentary drama on the life of Beethoven.

But Gareth is pleased his new role will be based in Cardiff, “I can’t wait to move back to South Wales, people are just much friendlier,” he said. “London was getting a bit fast for me.”

He was encouraged in acting by his aunt, 80-year-old Doris Leaves, with whom he lived on Allt-yr-yn Crescent from the age of nine.

Mrs Leaves said: “He got out of breath when he played football so I told him he needed a hobby. It has all sprung from there really.”

Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, now Lord Kinnock, became a fan after seeing Gareth performing at Monmouth Castle. When Gareth decided to pursue a career in acting Lord Kinnock sent £250 to help him on his way.

Filming started on Torchwood last month and Gareth will be on set from May 24. His character will be introduced with a small part in the first episode, before featuring in all 13-parts of the drama series.

Gareth says there will be plenty of surprises for Doctor Who fans in the series, “I can’t say too much but the scripts look really good. I can’t wait to get started.”

In other news, last night's Doctor Who episode over here in the UK, "Rise of the Cybermen" featured two short Torchwood references made at the expense of the Cybus Corporation. One reference saw a news item on Rose's mobile phone talk about the latest Torchwood Institute happenings, whilst another saw returning face Pete Tyler talk to "Stevie"; an old friend of his, who seemingly works at Torchwood.

The fact that this episode - and next week's too - takes place on a parallel world may dampen the relevence of these references to the over-all story arc. But we'll see. It seems Torchwood is building momentum rather rapidly now.

Torchwood's coming folks. Brace yourselves.

Enroll now in the Torchwood School

Another saturday night . . . another Torchwood reference. Advanced reviews say we will get another tease in School Reunion. We already got a quick reference in the Tardisode featuring Noel Clarke that goes with this episode. Once the episode airs, feel free to post what was revealed about our favorite Institute in the comments below.

Source: screencap from the School Reunion Tardisode

In other news, way back when this page started I got myself in a bit of hot water with my then 12 readers for dissing panto. Well six months later I have the opportunity to piss off our now hundreds of daily readers by again being less than enthusiastic about panto. But I must have mellowed a bit since then as I won't be doing that this time around. I'm just here to let panto fans know they should book their tickets now. During the festive season 2006 they can catch John Barrowman live in Cardiff.

So during the day JB will be Captain Jack filming for season 29 of WHO and during the evenings he will put on the tights and play Jack Trot of Beanstalk fame. If you aren't patient enough to wait until December for your panto, you're in luck! That same theatre in Cardiff is putting on the panto version of The Vagina Monologues in a few weeks.

So, Fancy A Stay At Torchwood House?

Just a quick update:
To coincide with Tooth and Claw, the BBC have made their first Torchwood themed spin-off website. It's viewable here http://www.visittorchwood.co.uk/. Naturally it has a few neat surprises and 'hidden features' in it, but to be quite frank, I haven't worked them out myself yet! (Password for the Observatory is in the comments)

Anyway, BBC, more please!

Her Royal Majesty's Torchwood

Those who haven't seen Tooth and Claw yet, you may want to run along and avoid this post.

Source:Wikipedia.org

As previously reported, tonight's episode took part mostly in a castle called Torchwood House in Scotland. At the end of the adventure Queen Victoria announced the foundation of the Torchwood organization. She said they will act as investigators of extra-terrestrial phenomonen and other threats outside the norm. They will also monitor for a return of the Doctor.

This appears to be where we find the distinction between UNIT and Torchwood, the former works within the United Nations framework, the latter is funded and directed by the House of Windsor.

Also, according to IMDB but denied by everybody else, John Barrowman will be appearing in the last two episodes of WHO this season. The two-part season finale will supposedly have story elements that lead right into Torchwood so we might not have to wait until October to see Captain Jack again afterall.

Torchisodes Coming

Well it's a better name than Tardisode anyway. According to somebody in the OG forums, Torchwood will get the same treatment as Doctor Who with minute-long weekly previews that you can watch on the web or on your cell phone as the show airs. They will also be wrtten by Gareth Roberts. This has not yet been confirmed by anybody else.

Source: http://doctorwho.time-and-space.co.uk

Don't miss WHO tomorrow night for lots of clues on the origins of Torchwood in the new episode Tooth and Claw. (As if anybody bothering to read this page would normally be watching snooker saturday nights) It's bound to be an improvement on New Earth, after all you can't go wrong when you put Queen Victoria together with a werewolf and flying Shaolin warriors. Throw in her servant John Brown and you have a classic.

Let the feast begin

We made it through the long cold winter. We are just an hour away now from the premier of New Earth and a few days off from filming on Torchwood. It's good to see we are getting more and more people stopping by and showing interest in the spinoff. You will need quite a sharp eye to spot all the Torchwood clues sprinkled throughout season 28 of WHO.

However we have already seen that the TV shows are not the only place we should be hunting. The first book in the Tenth Doctor Adventures series The Feast of the Drowned was released this week and it has a brief Torchwood reference. In the novel, the Institute is mentioned by a US naval officer. Interesting that the military forces of the USA are also aware of Torchwood's existance, even though like the British PM they are not supposed to know about them.

So enjoy the new season of WHO and don't blink, you might just miss some clue that reveals where Jack has a tattoo!

The First Sighting?!?

Here's a photo from BBC 3's recent Doctor Who Confidential special. Notice the army officer in the background. They're wearing a cap without the usual (for Doctor Who anyway) UNIT logo on it. Mysteriously it also has a letter T on top. Could this be a Torchwood soldier? Is this our first sighting of a Torchwood operative? I guess we'll find out when that particular episode, Army of Ghosts/Doomsday airs in July. Anyway, lets hear your theories...

http://art.gmaskew.com/acemel/1/5_5.jpg

Torchwood and Claw

Below this screencap is something that I would consider a minor spoiler about the forthcoming season of Doctor Who, so skip it if you are among the faint of heart.

Source:http://www.gallifreyone.com

While it looks like there will be no clues on Torchwood in the first episode of season 28, advanced reports on the second episode, Tooth and Claw, reveal there will be a visit to the Institute by none other than Queen Victoria. What is of most interest to Woodies perhaps is that this seems to indicate that Torchwood was already in operation in the 19th century.

Reviews of the show which mention Torchwood can be found at Scotsman.com and The Daily Record. The second episode will air on BBC1 on April 22, so that gives us plenty of time to imagine up some exotique scenarios involving Captain Jack and Queen Victoria.

Quick TCI Spoiler

If you haven't heard what the Torchwood reference in The Christmas Invasion is yet, here it is: Torchwood is a covert operation which takes orders from the government and has access to the missile/energy weapon that The Independent had previously mentioned. Torchwood is not the weapon itself, which makes a hell of a lot more sense. The weapon is based on alien technology, which to sum it up, means that Torchwood is a covert outfit that deals with alien activity. Last I checked we already knew this!

Source: The Christmas Invasion Screen Capture

Well its a bit odd that the folks at Torchwood would have control of some super kill-o-zap gun but basically we seem to be getting the message that there is nothing more to see here, move along folks. Guess this means we can go back to the always fascinating business of Gwen speculation until the next Doctor Who episode comes out in March.

Barcelona

If you haven't seen the Doctor Who Children In Need mini-episode yet, what are you waiting for? It is online here, go and watch it for crying out loud! Then donate and then come back here and we can talk. Wouldn't it be nice if the BBC could stream Doctor Who and Torchwood episodes all season? It would save us here in the USA and elsewhere from having to find the show using other means. (Here we are almost a year later after the show's original release and still not one word about a broadcast or a DVD release in the States, so sorry but I don't feel at all guilty about finding subversive ways to get Doctor Who. Don't worry BBC, whenever you finally get around to actually releasing the DVDs here, maybe five years time? I will go out and buy a copy)

Source:http://www.gallifreyone.com

So the squirt of information we got last night about Captain Jack is that he is busy rebuilding the Earth following the Dalek attack in Parting of the Ways. That in itself isn't really huge news but the fact that it was the Doctor who gave this information is. This would mean that four minutes after he ditched Jack on Satellite 5 the Doctor knows the Captain is alive and well.

It had previously looked like the Ninth Doctor took off without Jack because he thought he was dead. So either he did some sort of scan for life signs during the opening credit sequence while we weren't watching, he had some sixth sense tell him this, or after kissing Rose he just didn't want any other competition for her affections in the Tardis.

This bridge between seasons 27 and 28 was supposedly filmed after The Christmas Invasion which means it was probably filmed in the last month or so since Torchwood was greenlit. So it is probably not accidental that in between belches during some sort of post-regeneration sickness the Doctor would be casually rattling off information about Jack.

So there are two theories that come to my mind. One: that this is a clue that Torchwood will be set before Captain Jack ever runs across the Doctor and Rose. Because when they leave him on Satellite 5 he obviously has an important job to undertake which has nothing to do with solving crime in modern-day Cardiff. And two: since the Doctor is well aware of what Captain Jack is up to and where he is, he can quite easily pop off to check up on him and say hello (maybe a quick snog) at some point during Season 28 and give him a lift on to Cardiff.

Ok I got the ball rolling, discuss amongst yourselves.

UPDATE: Bowing to public pressure perhaps, the BBC has decided to release the season 27 boxset in the USA as well. You can pre-order from Amazon and it will be shipped on Valentines day 2006.

It's about time

A question that has come up is, how Captain Jack manages to get from Satellite 5 , where we last saw him in Doctor Who, to modern-day Cardiff which is the setting for Torchwood? By asking this question, you are already making a rather large assumption, that the action in Torchwood will all be taking place after Jack Harkness has met the Ninth Doctor.


Source:http://www.stakesandstones.co.uk
Russell T. Davies has already stated there will be no crossovers with WHO on the show and hasn't made any specific references to where the show will fall in a Doctor Who timeline. We already know Captain Jack was a former time agent and had no trouble jumping forward and backward through time before he met the Doctor.

The show may even be set during those missing two years of Jack's memory. That would of course conveniently answer the question of why he never spoke fondly of Gwen or Torchwood during season 27 of WHO.

K9 slated to appear on Torchwood

No not really. Sorry for scaring you . . In the forty-two year history of Doctor Who there has been only one other attempt at a spinoff prior to Torchwood. That was the ill-fated the tin dog's spinoff did. (Sort of a SPOILER warning here. I will talk below about news the BBC has officially released about Season 28 of Doctor Who. So this will probably be your only warning of this type. In the future, if it is something the BBC has officially released about Torchwood or WHO I will not give any warnings. I figure that's what a news and information site is about. The only type of thing I really consider to be SPOILER worthy is if some insider releases key plot information. OK you have been warned.)


K9 and Company is WHO canon and the two stars of that show Sarah Jane Smith and K9 Mark III will be making an appearance on the forthcoming season of Doctor Who. I personally don't understand the fascination people have with that stupid robot dog but it will be nice to see Sarah Jane again. The BBC has specifically said there would be no crossover episodes between Torchwood and WHO which is a shame. I was really hoping we might get to see a cat fight between Charlotte and Billie.